Finishing Essay Strong and Sound:

Smart Ideas for Students

Before we get started with the techniques and smart ideas we’ve put together to help students learn how to effectively finish an essay strong and sound, we want to stress the importance of writing a strong conclusion. It’s not just a summary of the ideas you have already expressed in the body paragraphs. It’s also a synthesis which puts all of the information together and takes your essay to the next level. It provides a direct and clear answer to whatever question or issue you have tackled in the assignment, and signals to the reader that you have said all there is to say about the topic. Here are the best techniques and smart ideas for you to consider:

List all of the main discussion points of your paper.

A great technique to help you get started is to simply take all of the topic sentences from each of your body paragraphs in rewriting the main ideas in two or three sentences using different words. This will help you reinforce your paper’s argument by remind the reader the details of your topic and the argument you have made for or against it.

Try using the “So What?” question method.

One of the first techniques composition teachers introduce to students for writing strong and sound endings to academic papers the “so what?” method, which asks students to try to explain why their writing is important in the first place. Using this, simply imagine the reader wants to know why they should care about what you have researched and written about. This should help you dig below the surface of your ideas to determine what the real purpose of your essay is in context of academic work.

Identify the major themes discussed in the intro.

Look back at your introduction paragraph and identify any major themes you brought up. You can create a nice sense of closure by repeating these themes and taking them a bit further in the final paragraph. For example, if you started your essay discussing the idea of human life and its smallness in relation to the expanse of the universe

Put your argument into a larger or different context.

Another highly effective technique favored by many academic writers is to put an argument into a larger or different context. This “broader picture” approach helps the reader understand how he or she can take your ideas and apply them to other areas in the world, preferably an area with which they are already familiar. This gives your research and writing a greater sense of purpose and will make for a more memorable academic work.

Keep your conclusion short and to the point.

There is no known standard or required length for a good conclusion; however, a good rule of thumb is that you it should be about five to seven sentences long. This should allow plenty of space for you to restate your thesis, summarize and synthesize content, and end your paper with a compelling statement that makes your work memorable well after it has been read. Anything more may be considered fluff and can detract from your grade.

End with a provocative point that leaves an impression.

Your last sentence should get straight to the point, be elegant and be provocative. We know this is easier said than done, but experimenting with a few different ideas should be helpful. Try ending with literary device such as irony, where you can be a little playful and present a small ironic by-product of what you discussed. You can also include a call to action, which challenges the reader to change or do something in response to the paper.